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synopsis

A novel about shrunken heads and dropouts, language and voyeurism, set in London and the Amazon basin.

Modern London. The photographer is a man ruled by two obsessions. First, to take photographs that speak for him. Second, to make the subjects of those pictures speak to him alone. He is not interested in them as people - their banal tales of joy and suffering. His experiments are to uncover the secrets that they don't know they are keeping.

Rewind to Peru in 1851. An explorer is battling to survive in a claustrophobic and unknown world. In flight from modernity he seeks older truths, which he finds in the customs of the Caposcripti.

How these secrets survive, and how the photographer uses them in his terrifying experiments is only the beginning of the journey.

praise for caposcripti

“Caposcripti is just effortlessly mesmerising. It is a book that is impossible to pigeonhole - all at once it is a Psycho-like thriller, a coming of age story, a man-hunt, an anthropological study and literary treat as it weaves across continents and times. Zelda Rhiando is as good at capturing the chilling obsession and practicality of a serial killer as she is at recreating the intensely alive depths of the jungles of the Amazon. Totally compelling stuff - I can't recommend it enough!”Emma Pickard

“It was such a good read. I enjoyed its clear lucid prose and vivid compelling narratives. Nina was a fabulous character and I felt so moved by the tribal people and their way of life. I am left with a nostalgia and sense of loss for the time when we as people trod softly upon this earth. Above all I loved the ending.”Melanie Swan

“A wonderful, well-paced story about those individuals who seek to illuminate the shadowy corners of human existence forgotten over time or never fully understood. The plot moves easily between the tumult of the modern city and the suffocating lushness of the South American jungle, and we are given a sense of those faint wisps of half-known wisdom that obscure the heart of darkness that pulses beneath the thin veneer of our civilization.”Jim Gleeson

“Caposcripti is a densely constructed, deeply disturbing book. It touches on the fears at the heart of all of us, and exposes how the desire for knowledge can be as corrupting as the lust for power.”Ben Scott-Robinson, Director, We Love Mobile